Or maybe more entrepreneurs are starting sustainable businesses and monetizing earlier therefore not needing to raise money.
I also submitted an "ask" on HN yesterday, regarding valuation/cap in my seed stage startup - I would be grateful if any of you could provide comments/suggestions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15858585
For serial entrepreneurs who just want to build, grow, and get out, leveraging someone else’s money to do so makes sense.
For first-time, or even veteran entrepreneurs, who want to maintain control and velocity of their business, taking outside capital might not yield the results you want.
If you can scrape funds together from yourself, family, and (contractually) from friends, do that. Then check with your city, state, and even federal resources for Small Business Administration loans. Then go to a bank and get a loan. Then, and only when all other avenues of funding have been exhausted, should you then consider getting those other funds. But YMMV, and if you just want to grow as quickly as possible, maybe you have a vetted business plan, maybe you just have an idea, if you need capital, seed funding will get you there, but caveat emptor.